Win

Mackenzie Molner

Loss

John Bartholomew

Win

Irina Krush

Loss

Alex Lenderman

Win

David Pruess

Loss

Daniel Fridman

There is little doubt that there are now more opportunities in the United States than there were 20 years ago to earn the performance norms needed for international titles. There are regular tournaments in Chicago for achieving norms, and the steady influx of foreign players over the years has also made it easier to earn norms in large, open tournaments. (Part of the requirement for a norm is that the player compete against a minimum number of foreign players during a tournament.)

An event that has become a regular stop for players seeking titles is the Copper State International in Arizona. It is run by American Chess Events, an organization created by Daniel Rensch, an international master, who was a talented junior and always thought he would be a grandmaster some day, until he hit an unexpected roadblock. He recounted the story last year on the Web site of the United States Chess Federation.

The latest Copper State International tournament ended Wednesday and five players earned norms: Mackenzie Molner, Robby Adamson, Conrad Holt, Keaton Kiewra and Siddharth Ravichandran. Molner tied for first in the A group with Timur Gareev, a grandmaster from Uzbekistan, earning Molner a grandmaster norm as well as an international master norm. It was his second grandmaster norm and his fourth international master norm (three are needed for the title). Adamson and Ravichandran each earned his third international master norm, while the others also earned international master norms, though for none of them was it their third.

In Round 9, while Gareev drew Nikolai Andrianov, an international master from Russia, Molner beat John Bartholomew, an American international master. Molner trotted out the Evans Gambit, an opening that had been neglected and disparaged for many years until Garry Kasparov surprised Viswanathan Anand with it in a 1995 game. (It still is not a very good opening against an opponent who is prepared for it, but most people are not.) Bartholomew played recklessly, grabbing pawns while Molner quickly developed his pieces. After 16 moves, Black’s king was caught in the center and in the crosshairs of White’s pieces.

Though she had a disappointing tournament, finishing in a tie for fifth in the A group, Irina Krush won an interesting and hard-fought game against Alex Lenderman in the last round. The opening was an unusual variation of the Slav Defense. Krush, who had White, had to forgo castling, but she had more space and her king ended up being quite safe (Krush later castled by hand), while Black’s king had trouble finding a home. Lenderman castled queen side, but Krush was able to pry away the pawns in front of Black’s king. In a complicated position, Lenderman pushed his a pawn down the board, but Krush’s attack was quicker. Lenderman managed to survive, but at the cost of a piece and his a pawn. He resigned rather than play on in an hopeless endgame.

The B group ended in a three-way tie among Daniel Fridman of Germany, and Mikeil Kekelidze and Giorgi Kacheishvili, who both play for the Republic of Georgia. Fridman was leading heading into the last round, but he was destroyed by David Pruess, an international master. Fridman played the Caro-Kann Defense and Pruess used the Fantasy Variation. Fridman responded with the double-edged 3 … de4 and 4 … e5. He imprudently grabbed a pawn (there seems to be a moral in these games — don’t grab pawns), which allowed Pruess to rapidly develop his pieces and build up an attack. Pruess offered a queen sacrifice on move 16 that Fridman could not accept without being mated in two moves. The rest was a massacre and Fridman resigned on move 26 as he was about to be mated.

CORRECTION:An earlier version of this blog entry incorrectly reported that Siddharth Ravichandran had not earned the third norm needed for his international master title.

What's Next

About

In its 1,500-year history, chess has imbedded itself in the world's culture and vocabulary. Ideas, terms and images from the game have long been used as proxies for intelligence and complexity. But chess is more than a diversion. Thousands worldwide play professionally or earn a living by teaching it to children. The Internet has transformed the game, making it easy for players anywhere to find an opponent day or night. Chess computers, originally developed to test the bounds of artificial intelligence, now play better than grandmasters. This blog will cover tournaments and events, trends and developments. Reader comments and questions will be more than welcome.

With an easy draw in the penultimate round, Hikaru Nakamura preserved his lead, while Viswanathan Anand, the world champion, was lucky to escape with a draw against a 16-year-old grandmaster. Read more…